Finland at the 1920 Summer Olympics

26 athletes represented Finland in 1920. It was the nation's third appearance in athletics, a sport in which Finland had competed each time the country appeared at the Olympics. The Finnish team garnered nine gold medals, matching the United States for the most in that category. With only about a quarter of the number of athletes, however, the Finns could not match the depth of the United States and finished with 13 fewer total medals.

The Finland team's greatest successes came in long distance running events (gold medals in the 10,000 metres, marathon, individual cross country, and team cross country) and throwing events (golds in the discus throw, shot put, and javelin throw—sweeping the medals in the latter). They also took the championships in the triple jump and the pentathlon.

Ranks given are within the heat.

Athlete	Event	Heats		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Hannes Kolehmainen	Marathon	N/A						2:32:35.8
Tatu Kolehmainen	Marathon	N/A						2:44:02.3	10
Teodor Koskenniemi	5000 m	N/A				15:22.0	3 Q	15:17.0	4
	Cross country	N/A						27:57.2	6
Heikki Liimatainen	10000 m	N/A				32:08.2	1 Q	32:28.0	7
	Cross country	N/A						27:37.0
Hannes Miettinen	Cross country	N/A						Unknown	23
Paavo Nurmi	5000 m	N/A				15:33.0	2 Q	15:00.0
	10000 m	N/A				33:46.3	2 Q	31:45.8
	Cross country	N/A						27:15.0
Eino Rastas	Cross country	N/A						Unknown	18
Oskari Rissanen	3000 m steeplechase	N/A				11:07.5	3 Q	did not start
Urho Tallgren	Marathon	N/A						2:42:40.0	9
Juho Tuomikoski	Marathon	N/A						2:40:18.8	5
Ilmari Vesamaa	5000 m	N/A				15:54.4	4	did not advance
	3000 m steeplechase	N/A				10:32.2	4	did not advance
	Cross country	N/A						Unknown	14
Valdemar Wickholm	400 m hurdles	N/A		57.9	3	did not advance
Erik Wilén	400 m	52.0	2 Q	51.0	4	did not advance
	400 m hurdles	N/A		58.4	2 Q	Unknown	5	did not advance
Teodor Koskenniemi Heikki Liimatainen Paavo Nurmi	Cross country	N/A						10

Athlete	Event	Qualifying		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Pekka Johansson	Javelin throw	63.095	2 Q	63.095
Hugo Lahtinen	Long jump	6.19	19	did not advance
Eero Lehtonen	Long jump	6.285	16	did not advance
Jonni Myyrä	Discus throw	37.00	12	did not advance
	Javelin throw	60.63	3 Q	65.78 OR
Elmer Niklander	Shot put	14.155	1 Q	14.155
	Discus throw	44.685	1 Q	44.685
	56 lb weight throw	8.865	8	did not advance
Ossian Nylund	Triple jump	13.74	7	did not advance
Urho Peltonen	Javelin throw	63.605 OR	1 Q	63.605
Johan Pettersson	Hammer throw	41.76	11	did not advance
	56 lb weight throw	9.375	6 Q	9.375	6
Ville Pörhölä	Shot put	14.035	3 Q	14.81
	Discus throw	38.19	8	did not advance
	56 lb weight throw	8.85	9	did not advance
Jussi Ruoho	Pole vault	3.60	1 Q	3.40	12
Julius Saaristo	Javelin throw	60.045	5 Q	62.395	4
Armas Taipale	Shot put	12.945	10	did not advance
	Discus throw	44.19	2 Q	44.19
Vilho Tuulos	Triple jump	14.505	1 Q	14.505

Athlete	Event	Final
		Total	Rank
Pekka Johansson	Decathlon	did not finish
Hugo Lahtinen	Pentathlon	26
	Decathlon	did not finish
Eero Lehtonen	Pentathlon	14
	Decathlon	did not finish
Jonni Myyrä	Pentathlon	did not finish
Ossian Nylund	Pentathlon	did not finish
Valdemar Wickholm	Decathlon	6405.460	6

A single equestrian represented Finland in 1920. It was the nation's debut in the sport. Wilkman competed in the eventing competition, placing 17th.

Two pentathletes represented Finland in 1920. It was the nation's debut in the sport.

A point-for-place system was used, with the lowest total score winning.

Nine shooters represented Finland in 1920. It was the nation's third appearance in the sport as well as the Olympics. The Finns were looking to improve upon the pair of bronze medals they had won in 1912, which was the country's best result to date. They were successful, taking a silver medal in the team running deer single shots competition as well as another pair of bronzes in other team competitions.

Shooter	Event	Final
		Result	Rank
Voitto Kolho	300 m free rifle, 3 pos.	974	7
Yrjö Kolho	100 m deer, single shots	40	4
Kalle Lappalainen	300 m free rifle, 3 pos.	945	Unknown
Veli Nieminen	300 m free rifle, 3 pos.	934	Unknown
	Trap	Unknown
Toivo Tikkanen	100 m deer, single shots	40	5
Vilho Vauhkonen	300 m free rifle, 3 pos.	966	Unknown
	300 m military rifle, prone	59	4
Magnus Wegelius	300 m free rifle, 3 pos.	849	Unknown
	300 m military rifle, standing	51	Unknown
	600 m military rifle, prone	51	Unknown
Voitto Kolho Yrjö Kolho Frans Nässling Toivo Tikkanen Nestor Toivonen	50 m team free pistol	2052	11
Voitto Kolho Kalle Lappalainen Veli Nieminen Vilho Vauhkonen Magnus Wegelius	Team free rifle	4668	4
	300 m team military rifle, prone	281
	600 m team military rifle, prone	268	8
	300 & 600 m team military rifle, prone	524	10
Voitto Kolho Kalle Lappalainen Nestor Toivonen Vilho Vauhkonen Magnus Wegelius	300 m team military rifle, standing	235	7
Yrjö Kolho Kalle Lappalainen Toivo Tikkanen Nestor Toivonen Magnus Wegelius	100 m team deer, single shots	159
Yrjö Kolho Toivo Tikkanen Nestor Toivonen Vilho Vauhkonen Magnus Wegelius	100 m team deer, double shots	285

A single weightlifter represented Finland in 1920. It was the nation's debut in the sport. Ekström competed in the light heavyweight category, but did not finish the competition.

Eighteen wrestlers competed for Finland in 1920. It was the nation's third appearance in the sport as well as the Olympics. The Finland team was the most successful of any country, taking fully half of the gold medals as well as twice as many total medals as any other country. Twelve of the eighteen wrestlers won medals.

Nine of the ten Greco-Roman wrestlers won medals, including three gold medals. The Finns swept the top two places in two of the five events, won two medals in two other events, and took one medal in the fifth. The Finnish wrestlers won 84% of their matches, a percentage that rises to 89% when matches between two men from Finland are excluded.

The eight freestyle wrestlers were also successful, taking two of a possible five gold medals, but not to the extent of the Greco-Roman wrestlers. Only three of the eight took medals, and the winning percentage was a less-staggering though still respectable 70%.

Freestyle

Wrestler	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals / Bronze match	Rank
Kalle Anttila	Lightweight	N/A	Deligny (FRA) (W)	Shimmon (USA) (W)	Thys (BEL) (W)	Svensson (SWE) (W)
Johan Gallén	Light heavyweight	N/A	Roosen (BEL) (W)	Larsson (SWE) (L)	did not advance		5
Eino Leino	Middleweight	Bye	Bron (SUI) (W)	Janssens (BEL) (W)	Johnson (USA) (W)	Penttala (FIN) (W)
Kaarlo Mäkinen	Featherweight	N/A	Gerson (USA) (L)	did not advance			9
Sven Mattsson	Heavyweight	N/A		Pendleton (USA) (L)	did not advance		5
Väinö Penttala	Middleweight	Backsman (FRA) (W)	Bacon (GBR) (W)	Derkinderen (BEL) (W)	Frantz (USA) (W)	Leino (FIN) (L)
Jussi Salila	Heavyweight	N/A		Roth (SUI) (L)	did not advance		5
Emil Westerlund	Light heavyweight	N/A	Rhys (GBR) (W)	Maurer (USA) (L)	did not advance		5

Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent  Belgium 4 0 1.000  France 2 0 1.000  Great Britain 2 0 1.000  Sweden 1 1 .500  Switzerland 1 1 .500  United States 3 3 .500 Total international 13 5 .722  Finland 1 1 .500 Total 14 6 .700

Round Wins Losses Percent Round of 32 1 0 1.000 Round of 16 5 1 .857 Quarterfinals 3 4 .429 Semifinals 3 0 1.000 Final 2 1 .667 Bronze match 0 0 – Total 14 6 .700

Greco-Roman

Wrestler	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals	Rank
				Silver quarters	Silver semis	Silver match
				Bronze quarters	Bronze semis	Bronze match
Oskari Friman	Featherweight	Bye	Gallery (USA) (W)	Svensson (SWE) (W)	Boumans (BEL) (W)	Kähkönen (FIN) (W)
				N/A	Won gold
				Won gold
Heikki Kähkönen	Featherweight	Bye	Brian (USA) (W)	Torgensen (DEN) (W)	Pütsep (EST) (W)	Friman (FIN) (L)
				N/A	Svensson (SWE) (W)	Boumans (BEL) (W)
				Won silver
Adolf Lindfors	Heavyweight	Gasiglia (FRA) (W)	Willkie (USA) (W)	Dame (FRA) (W)	Hansen (DEN) (W)	Ahlgren (SWE) (W)
				Won gold
				Won gold
Arthur Lindfors	Middleweight	Christensen (DEN) (W)	Johnsen (NOR) (W)	Balej (TCH) (W)	Szymanski (USA) (W)	Westergren (SWE) (L)
				Bye	Eillebrecht (NED) (W)	Perttilä (FIN) (W)
				Won silver
Martin Nieminen	Heavyweight	Bye	Larsen (DEN) (W)	Hansen (DEN) (L)	did not advance
				did not advance
				Bye	Willkie (USA) (W)	Weyand (USA) (W)
Matti Perttilä	Middleweight	Cornelis (BEL) (W)	Nielsen (DEN) (W)	Fältström (SWE) (W)	Westergren (SWE) (L)	Did not advance
				Bye	Vanderleenden (BEL) (W)	Lindfors (FIN) (L)
				Bye	Eillebrecht (NED) (W)	Johnsen (NOR) (W)
Anders Rajala	Light heavyweight	Bye	Tázler (TCH) (W)	Wahlem (BEL) (L)	did not advance		7
				N/A	did not advance
				N/A
Edil Rosenqvist	Light heavyweight	Bye	Johansson (SWE) (L)	did not advance
				N/A	Tetens (DEN) (W)	Eriksen (DEN) (W)
				N/A
Taavi Tamminen	Lightweight	Bye	Kopřiva (TCH) (W)	Frydenlund (NOR) (W)	Andersen (NOR) (W)	Väre (FIN) (W)
				Bye	Janssens (BEL) (W)	Frisenfeldt (DEN) (W)
				Won silver
Emil Väre	Lightweight	Christiansen (DEN) (W)	Rohon (FRA) (W)	Janssens (BEL) (W)	Frisenfeldt (DEN) (W)	Tamminen (FIN) (W)
				Won gold
				Won gold

Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent  Belgium 6 1 .857  Czechoslovakia 3 0 1.000  Denmark 10 1 .909  Estonia 1 0 1.000  France 3 0 1.000  Netherlands 2 0 1.000  Norway 4 0 1.000  Sweden 4 3 .571  United States 6 0 1.000 Total international 39 5 .886  Finland 3 3 .500 Total 42 8 .840

Round Wins Losses Percent Round of 32 4 0 1.000 Round of 16 9 1 .900 Quarterfinals 7 2 .778 Semifinals 6 1 .857 Final 3 3 .500 Silver quarterfinals 0 0 – Silver semifinals 5 0 1.000 Silver match 4 1 .800 Bronze quarterfinals 0 0 – Bronze semifinals 2 0 1.000 Bronze match 2 0 1.000 Total 42 8 .840

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Finland at the 1920 Summer Olympics.

• International Olympic Committee results database
• Belgium Olympic Committee (1957). Olympic Games Antwerp 1920: Official Report (in French).
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2007.